Determination of very low levels of inorganic and organic mercury in natural waters by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry after preconcentration on a chelating resin

Inorganic and organic mercury at ng l^?1 levels in fresh waters are collected simultaneously on a column of a dithiocarbamate-treated resin and quantitatively eluted with slightly acidic aqueous thiourea solution. Mercury vapor is generated from inorganic mercury by reduction with alkaline SnCl₂ solution, and from inorganic and organic mercury with a CdCl₂SnCl₂ solution, for determination by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. The range of determination is 0.2–5,000 ppt (ng l^?1) for 20-l water samples.     

Micro-determination of total phthalate esters in biological samples by gas-liquid chromatography.

A method was investigated in which all of the phthalate esters in biological samples were determined as phthalic acid by gas-liquid chromatography. The method is based on the separation of phthalate esters from the sample with n-hexane, saponification of the esters with an alkaline ethanolic solution to give phthalic acid, purification of the acid by extraction with diethyl ether and column chromatography using silica gel, and conversion of the acid into bis(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl) phthalate with a 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol solution containing boron trifluoride. The derivative obtained is highly sensitive to an electron-capture detector, giving a sensitivity of 0.1 pg. Biological samples fortified with di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate at levels of 5-100 ppb were analyzed, with recoveries of 70-100%.     

The raised-cosine wavelets in computerized tomography

In Computerized Tomography (CT), an image must be recovered from its sampled projections in the form of values of the Radon transform. In this work a method of recovering the image is based on the properties of the raised-cosine wavelet. This wavelet has a closed form which allows for certain precomputations and avoids convolution. The rate of convergence of the resulting algorithm to the image density function is found under suitable hypotheses. This algorithm is then tested on the standard Shepp–Logan     

Polynomials: a theme which should not be forgotten

There is a definite movement to remove many of the topics concerning polynomials from the school curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to point out why this movement is misguided and should be reversed.     

Mathematical attitudes and semantic differentials

The semantic differential—one approach to attitude measurement— basically records a combination of a person's associations with a particular concept with a scaling procedure. This paper considers the implications of such a device for teachers of mathematics.     

Phase structure change and ER effect in liquid crystalline polymer/dimethylsiloxane blends

The mechanism of the electrorheological (ER) effect in two types of liquid crystalline polymer (LCP)/dimethylsiloxane (DMS) blends was investigated by rheological measurements and by structure observation under electric field and shear flow. The results show that the phase structures of these immiscible blends can be categorized into slipping (low viscosity) and non-slipping (high viscosity) states. In the non-slipping state, higher viscosity LCP domains connect the electrodes. In the slipping state, on the other hand, LCP domains do not connect the electrodes and the shear is mainly confined in the lower viscosity DMS domains. The ER effect (electrically induced viscosity increase) originates from the electrically induced slipping to non-slipping transition. In one of the blends, the ER effect occurs only at high shear rate, since this blend is in non-slipping state even under no field if the shear rate is low. Received: 29 April 1997 Accepted: 3 November 1997     

Localization and Screening Enhancement in Asymmetric Binary Ionic Mixtures

The equation of state of binary ionic mixtures of similar ions, such as nitrogen, oxygen and carbon, has been extensively studied. The study of dense asymmetric mixtures, where Z₂ >> Z₁, has primarily focused on mixtures of hydrogen and iron at solar conditions. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we examine the behavior of highly asymmetric binary ionic mixtures, where the coupling of the high‐Z species may be orders of magnitude higher than the coupling of the low‐Z species. For the conditions we have studied, we find that strong correlations and signatures of solidification occur in the high‐Z species, while the low‐Z species exists as a freely flowing fluid within the high‐Z solid matrix. Solidification of the low‐Z species is correlated with the coupling between the two components. Using the Widom expansion method, we compute the plasma screening enhancement of the nuclear reaction rates for Z = 1 in a high‐Z matrix. We also provide some estimates of the coefficient of binary diffusion in the mixture. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Molecular defects of polyacrylonitrile formed in aqueous medium

The various kinds of molecular defect that are related to the thermal property of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) are studied in detail in relation to the polymerization mechanism in an aqueous medium. The existence of two different kinds of polymer radical is pointed out and the significance of polarity of radical species is emphasized. It is shown that the structural irregularity along the main chain is surely present but has little effect on the thermal property of PAN. It is estimated that one of the most significant defects relating to the thermal property is the main-chian type of branching the occurs predominantly in hydrogen on a polymer backbone. The relationship between activator (i.e., NaHSO₃) incorporation and branch inhibition mechanisms is discussed. The optimum polymerization condition, under which the highest thermal quality of molecules is obtained, is found empirically within a limited experimental range, for an aqueous heterogeneous system.     

Control of de-excitation to selected vibrational levels in the ground state of NaH molecule using two broadband ultrashort pulses

We show that the de-excitation to different vibrational levels of the ground state in NaH molecule can be controlled by using two delayed ultrashort pulses (4 fs Gaussian). A vibrational wave packet generated on the excited A¹Σ⁺ state by the first pulse is de-excited back to the ground state by a second pulse after a time delay. The cross-section for de-excitation of the wave packet to different vibrational levels of the ground electronic state can be controlled by controlling the delay time between the two pulses as well as by choosing a pulse duration much shorter than the vibrational period of the molecule, such that the de-excited wave packet remains localized in the Franck–Condon region of a particular vibrational level of the ground state. Hence, the de-excitation to a particular vibrational level can be enhanced by suppressing that in others. In spite of the large bandwidth of the pulse which includes nine vibrational levels of the upper state and five vibrational levels of the ground state, one can selectively de-excite the molecule to any one or two vibrational levels of the ground state by carefully choosing the delay time between the pulses and the pulse duration. We are designing the wave packet in the ground state by two short pulses and selectively distributing the population in one or two levels at various values of the delay time. In light molecules having small vibrational period, this selectivity in de-excitation to one or two vibrational levels in the ground state can be achieved only by using ultrashort (4 fs) pulses in the presence of which the localization of the wave packet in the Franck–Condon region of the vibrational levels are particularly possible. It has been shown that the de-excitation cross-section to a particular vibrational level oscillates with delay between the pulses which can be realized as a time-dependent quantum gate.     

Luminescence characteristics of K2Ca2(SO4)3:Eu,Tb micro- and nanocrystalline phosphor

K₂Ca₂(SO₄)₃ microcrystalline pure, doped with Eu, Tb and co-doped with Eu, Tb was prepared by solid-state diffusion method. Nanoparticles of these phosphors were also prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method. The formation of the compounds was confirmed by XRD. The particle size was calculated by broadening of the XRD peaks using Scherrer's formula. The particle size of nanocrystalline powder material was approximately found to be around 20 nm. Thermoluminescence and photoluminescence were studied to see the effect of co-doping and particle size. Tb³⁺ co-doping decreases the intensity in the Eu²⁺ doped phosphor due to the energy transfer and multiple de-excitations through various radiative and non-radiative processes. The sensitivity of K₂Ca₂(SO₄)₃:Eu,Tb microcrystalline phosphor was around 15 times more than LiF-TLD 100 and 7 times more than CaSO₄:Dy. A high temperature peak (615 K) was observed in case of the nanoparticles, which was attributed to a particle size induced phase transition. This was confirmed by differential scanning calormetry measurements. The decrease in the sensitivity in case of nanoparticles is attributed to the particle size effect i.e. volume to surface ratio. Theoretical analysis of the glow curves was done by glow curve convolution deconvolution method to calculate trapping parameters of various peaks.